Futuretro-spective on Reproductive Rights


    For my second and last project of the senior humanities class Equality, my classmates and I each made a video or podcast about a relevant social issue. We have been learning about the history of various social movements in our country. We spoke to Anthony Holmes, a survivor of John Burge and the Chicago Police's torture interrogation, Isabel Strauss about the architecture of reparations, and went to the Weinberg-Newton gallery to see the "For Those Without Choice" exhibit which was sponsored by Planned Parenthood. We used the experiences we had in and outside of the classroom to inform our videos and podcasts. The twist on the assignment is that we were supposed to write our scripts from the perspective of someone in 100 years, looking back on events of today. We also speculated on the events that may happen in between now and then. I chose to again look at abortion rights. I specifically examined the history leading up to Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v. Jackson, and the ongoing lawsuit of Silva v. Noyola et al. in which the plaintiff is a man suing three of his ex wifes friends for giving her information about accessing abortion pills. I envisioned a future where this case was decided in favor of the friends, kicking off further wins for reproductive rights. I sincerely hope I haven't jinxed it. 


   
 
   
     I chose to look at this case in specific because I have been playing a lot of attention to it in the news, and think it has the potential to be very impactful in whichever way it goes. I think it presents a free speech issue aside from abortion rights, and am hopeful that abortion rights are restored as soon as they can be. I assume in the next 100 years there will be a variety of setbacks and victories as most things tend to have, but hope it evens out in a way that includes more victories. Researching this project was very interesting, because we tend to think of progress as linear, but the history often has ups and downs. The only thing I would really want to change is that I wish I could compare with whatever actually ends up happening, but obviously that is less than practical. 

Works Cited: 

“Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392.

“Roe v. Wade.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18.

Www.courthousenews.com. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/marcus-silva-sb-8-lawsuit.pdf. 

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